Friday, March 19, 2010

The 2010 LA StreetSummit kicked off last night at Occidental College in Eagle Rock with a lecture by New York City's Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan: a bike advocate, complete streets engineer, and all around uber-sweet human being.

In reviewing the incredible successes of PlaNYC's pedestrian- and bike-friendly initiatives, Janette made sure to emphasize a few key points of her overall design philosophy. To paraphrase:

Urban reform doesn't have to be expensive or complicated. You can do a whole lot with a can of paint and some imagination to paint the city "green."

Urban reform doesn't have to involve huge sweeping changes. Instead, experiment bit by bit in small increments. If it doesn't work out, no bigs — change it back and move on. If it does (e.g. the awesomification of Times Square) make it permanent.

Safety is paramount. Use women + children as your benchmark, not spandex-clad cycling evangelists. If moms + their kids don't feel safe cycling on the streets, you've still got work to do.

She spoke to a packed auditorium that interrupted her talk with frequent fits of spontaneous applause, followed by a lengthy Q&A session propelled by a palpable hunger for advice and wisdom on how to achieve similar results — i.e. 200 miles of new bike paths in 3 years! — right here in LA. Janette's combination of idealism guided by pragmatism gives her an utterly charming small town sensibility, only applied to a massive, world class setting like New York City. An amazing person. Someone build a freaking statue of her already.

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meet janette sadik-khan

The 2010 LA StreetSummit kicked off last night at Occidental College in Eagle Rock with a lecture by New York City's Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan: a bike advocate, complete streets engineer, and all around uber-sweet human being.

In reviewing the incredible successes of PlaNYC's pedestrian- and bike-friendly initiatives, Janette made sure to emphasize a few key points of her overall design philosophy. To paraphrase:

Urban reform doesn't have to be expensive or complicated. You can do a whole lot with a can of paint and some imagination to paint the city "green."

Urban reform doesn't have to involve huge sweeping changes. Instead, experiment bit by bit in small increments. If it doesn't work out, no bigs — change it back and move on. If it does (e.g. the awesomification of Times Square) make it permanent.

Safety is paramount. Use women + children as your benchmark, not spandex-clad cycling evangelists. If moms + their kids don't feel safe cycling on the streets, you've still got work to do.

She spoke to a packed auditorium that interrupted her talk with frequent fits of spontaneous applause, followed by a lengthy Q&A session propelled by a palpable hunger for advice and wisdom on how to achieve similar results — i.e. 200 miles of new bike paths in 3 years! — right here in LA. Janette's combination of idealism guided by pragmatism gives her an utterly charming small town sensibility, only applied to a massive, world class setting like New York City. An amazing person. Someone build a freaking statue of her already.